Unique case: South Korean military record~no jail time, no fines

[Beckysue2006 0]

My husband served in the Korean army for almost 10 years.

In 2011, the military demanded to make the troops "combat ready" in response to the threats from North Korea.

My husband, as a decorated captain, pushed his troops very hard to meet this demand.

In June of 2011, there was a shooting incident in the Marine Corps. The Korean public demanded that the military undergo reform to prevent such shooting incidents (caused by bullying, etc.) Korea has required military service for all men--many do not want to be there, and most have no interest in protecting the country.

In July 2011, my husband, along with others in his position, were rounded up and prosecuted by the high military court to show the public they were attempting to stop any future issues.

Charges:

1. Special case of Illegal Violence

2. Collective threat/threat with a deadly weapon

3. Misuse of Power

The original sentence for the sum of these crimes was 2 years in prison or a 3 year suspension of execution (meaning as long as he didn't get in trouble for 3 years, he wouldn't have any prison time).

He went to appeals court to reduce the sentence to 1 year imprisonment or 2 years suspension of execution.

Fast forward to now (engaged, married, 15 month old baby~also a US citizen).

We just had our visa interview December 16th, 2016 at the US embassy in Seoul.

We had to get the original court document translated (because we only had the appeal). We submitted the document and my husband's passport on Tuesday December 20th and our case has been labeled "Administrative Processing" as of December 21st.

My question is:

If the officer wanted to deny my husband's visa, would he have done it on the spot or given some kind of hint that he would be denied??

He seemed very nice. He asked my husband if he had been in any trouble since then as a civilian (which was no) and if he had been to prison or paid a fine (no to both).

We began our visa journey December 30th 2015. We have been waiting for almost an entire year for this answer. The anticipation is crushing.

Any advice, wisdom, or success stories from applicants with criminal records would be much appreciated.

♡♡♡♡♡

[Beckysue2006 0]

Note: just to be clear, he never ever spent time in prison. The only punishment was his discharge from the military.

[f f 725]

you can try to build evidence that it was more political than wrong doing that got him convicted. but that is going to take a bit of work.

good luck